Catching up...Again!!

Okay, okay, I know. I'm such blog a slacker! Pretty much after my pre-baby trip to Anchorage, and once my mom arrived with me on my return, I did not have time to update anything. We spent most of the 3 weeks she was here, however, waiting for baby to arrive, cleaning, etc. I will put up a separate post with the story of the arrival of the new little one. I have, as you might have noticed, updated my "to do" list from 2 months ago. A little embarrassing that it has been so long, but I have been just a *little* busy!

Among other goals for this week - hopefully today though - is FINALLY getting some pictures up on here. I have quilt pics, baby pics, and just general pics of the family to get up. The quilt pics are of two quilts I just finished for a friend's twin boys. They are over a year already (hanging head in shame), and it is about time they get given to those boys! I have another set of twin quilts that I'm working on, but the next two quilts I plan to finish are a pink and brown YBR (Yellow Brick Road) for a friend's baby girl, and an applique animal quilt for another friend's son, who is also over a year now! That friend just had her second baby already, a girl this time, and I need to get started on her quilt too! Ugh. I am also working on some little pocket photo books to give as little Christmas gifts. I suppose I need to add to my "to do" list to finish up my Christmas shopping as well! I have NO IDEA what to get for Erik, and I have to get some movie tickets for my little cousins in CO. So much to do, so little time. I am renewing my commitment to keep my blog updated though, and maybe I will make it a new year's resolution too! haha

Okay, while baby boy (Braydan) has a full belly and is asleep again for a bit, and Keagan is napping, and I'm waiting for some pictures to finish uploading on FB. So, I'm off to attempt to get something productive done before the baby wakes up and wants to eat again! I will try to get the baby story post done later tonight, along with the baby pictures. I actually have to wait for Erik to get home from work to take pictures of the quilts I just finished, so maybe those will come later tonight or tomorrow. When Keagan wakes up, we have cookies to make this afternoon too, so it will be a busy day! Off I go...

Facing Oncoming Progress...

Okay, so DD did not nap well, barely at all, yesterday, in fact, so I did not get around to putting up pictures. I also did not do anymore work in the sewing room yesterday. However, I have a guest coming from Anchorage tonight for the weekend, and will thus have to clear off the bed, which of course means all that stuff has to be put away! This is causing me a small amount of stress, but is a good thing over all. It will force me to get in there & get things put away! Even if they are not perfectly organized, they will be put away in some semblance of a manner that will allow me to go in and sew next week!! This is very exciting.

I went to my weekly prenatal yoga class yesterday. It was really hard, which it has not been before. Getting up and down, and not being able to do a couple of poses, tells me I am getting closer. Have my now weekly appointment with the midwife today, and I am interested to see what she says and if I have made any progress. I am SO ready to be done being preggo and have this baby already, but on the other hand, there are still many things to do around the house before we are ready for baby or my parents arrival! Nursery is completely painted, so I'm hoping that DH will get in there and clean up and clear out tools, etc., tonight & start putting the furniture in! One can only hope.

One thing I did do yesterday was go through the rest of the boxes of baby girl clothes from the garage, and sort them into tubs. I am pretty sure there is still one box missing somewhere out there that DH couldn't find to bring in, because I have no newborn sized stuff, and I know we had some. Hopefully he can find that tonight so I can get that job completely finished. I pulled out all the cute little things that could be worn by boys too, and will sort those into the appropriate bins &/or the dresser once it is in the nursery! The chair I bought for the nursery is still all wrapped up, sitting in our living room, which is making me crazy. Hoping that also makes it into the nursery tonight so I can stop looking at it taking up space out here!! I am slowly checking things off of my to do list for the week. Just seems like I cannot get it all done quickly enough. *sigh*

I see I have follower #2 today - hi Viki! lol Glad there are now 2 people out there in blog land paying attention to my drivel! haha Very exciting for me. Well, I am off to work on the guest room & study for my midterm. Hope to have some major progress to post tomorrow, and hopefully one of these days, some pictures!

A Little Progress

Well, I bit the bullet & headed into the sewing room last night. Despite feeling like I just needed to go lay down, and feeling overwhelmed just looking around in there, I dug in my heels & got to work. I nearly cleared off the cube shelves, which consisted mainly of emptying out baskets (that will not be used any longer) that had sat in the closet in the old sewing room, and putting away fabric & notions! I also weeded through some other papers, cards, etc., and threw a bunch of stuff away. Today I am going to empty a HUGE Rubbermaid bin that has old jeans in it, but will not fit under the shelves in my closet, by putting them into two smaller tubs that will stack & fit together. There is still much to do in there, but I feel like I have gotten so much closer! I really need to get better about taking pictures of things in progress, and get SOME pictures up here soon. Maybe this afternoon. DH also put a 3rd coat of red paint on the two walls in the nursery last night, so progress is being made. Today I have to go through the last few boxes of baby girl clothes & put them into bins to mark & put in the garage. That will be an easy thing to do while I sit and watch my daughter play. First things first, however, prenatal yoga this afternoon! I so look forward to that each week, and cannot wait for this afternoon. When I get home, DD will be sleeping (hopefully), and I will try to make just a little more progress in the sewing room, and take some pics.

Some good quilty news: While sorting/organizing last night, I found an entire stack of HSTs, same background but each half with a different coordinating fabric. I remember making a baby quilt completely of HSTs a few years back, and remembered that I had accidentally made DOUBLE the number of HSTs that I needed - so they are "boy" colors, and I have a few baby boy quilts that need done. How nice to find that I'm so close to another top being done! lol Now if I can just get a few of them quilted...*SIGH*

Falling Behind Already

Well, so much for keeping up with blog postings. Oh well. So I also failed on the aforementioned goal of having the nursery done by now. Hubby painted the room this past weekend finally, the two yellow walls were done Saturday, and the closet insert hung, save the 3rd section for which the shelves need to be cut to size before being put up. The two red walls were done yesterday - 2 coats, but I'm pretty sure they need a 3rd coat of paint today. Hopefully that will do it, but we shall see. Everyone, from the lady in the paint department at Home Depot, to all friends and randoms who have heard we were painting red, said that red is difficult to work with, and generally needs at least 3 coats, sometimes 4! Yikes! So either way, one coat tonight, another tomorrow night if necessary, and worse case scenario, the furniture will be in the nursery by mid week! I think that I will feel MUCH better when that is all set up & ready to go, and I can wash all the crib bedding & baby clothes. Once his clothes are washed, I can pack my bag for the hospital. I am 37 weeks today - only 3 more to go, if I make it that long!! I am off even partial bed rest officially, and was cleared for bowling last week even! Bowled 6 games, 3 for our regular night, and 3 to make up for one of the two weeks our team missed - turns out the other 3 ladies were also unable to make it while I was down & out resting. Also went back to prenatal yoga last week, which I had dearly missed for the 2 weeks before that. I find myself really looking forward to Wednesday afternoons for that awesome class at the Anahata Center here in Homer. It is amazing, and I feel like a completely new person and totally re-energized each week afterward!

For the quilting report, I pin basted 2 baby quilts, for a friend's twin boys, over a week ago now at the monthly open sew I attend with the End of the Road Quilters. I have yet to get the last bit of organizing and set up done in the "new" sewing room, so my machine is not even plugged in, and there is too much stuff on my table. I am hoping to also get that done this week, so that either later in the week, or this coming weekend, I can sneak in there and get those two quilts quilted!! I have SO many UFO's - somewhere around 70 (*GASP*) - and around 25+ are tops that are done that need quilting!!! Some are baby quilts that I will quilt myself but haven't had the opportunity/space to pin baste them yet (thus the two that were done last weekend in AP), and some are larger quilts that have no destinations at this point, thus not making it worth the money I would have to pay for a longarm quilter to quilt them for me. I should not say not worth it, but they are just not priorities for spending the money on it for now. I have committed to donate an old exchange top though, for our End of the Road group, to be one of the 2 charity quilts we do for the Anchor Point Senior center for the upcoming year as a thanks for their letting us use their facility for free. That will take care of one flimsy (unquilted but finished top)/UFO all in one shot! Go me! haha

In other news, the potty training continues. Yesterday, DD, who is 2 and a half, had one outright accident in the living room, and one in the bathroom while she was on her way to use the potty. Not too bad. Today, fingers crossed & knock on wood, no accidents so far. Hoping that she has another successful day overall. She has gotten really good about just saying she needs to go potty & running in & going all by herself, not waiting or worrying about us having to go with her. We even went out to dinner last night with some out of town friends, who had a 3 year old girl with them - the two girls were running around (it was at Alice's Champagne Palace, and relatively slow - I would NOT allow her to just run amok in a regular restaurant!) after dinner, and she even stopped playing to tell us when she needed to go. All good signs. Keep your fingers crossed for me that all continues to go well in that department...it would be REALLY nice if we only had to do nighttime pull ups after the baby comes. One kiddo in diapers is more than enough for me!

I suppose that is it for today. I am going to try to use some of my down time while DD naps to work on my sewing room. Steaks for dinner, which mean the hubs is in charge of that - less work for me! Woot, woot!! Also have to start getting things in better order around the house in general in advance of the parental units' visit - know how that goes, no matter how old a person gets! lol Thinking of splurging & paying someone to come in & scour the bathrooms, deep clean the kitchen, wipe down baseboards, and scrub floors right before they come. Lord knows I can only do so much at this point, and baseboards & scrubbing toilets are NOT on the list!!

Alderwood Quilts Giveaway

So I have stumbled across and entered a giveaway on the Alderwood Quilts blog. I recommend you all go check out her blog (there are lots of fun things there, from quilting to knitting to recipes to the harvesting of lavendar!) and enter for your own chance to win and Accuquilt GO! cutter! I started following this blog, which gives you an extra chance in the drawing, but also gets you faster access to all her great content! Despite entering for chances to win various prizes as part of the Fall into Fall giveaway, this is one of only 3 blogs I have started following in the past several days, and many of those giveaways offer extra chances for following, so that tells you I think it is a good one! Here is the link to Alderwood Quilts: http://alderwoodquilts.blogspot.com/ Enjoy!

Rest, Rest, & More Rest

Well. I had an appointment with the midwife today, and I am officially still on semi-bed rest. In fact, she told me that I probably need to be taking it a little easier than I have been. Grrrr. I have things to do! She still is not worried that I am going to go into labor immediately, but apparently unless I can hold out for at least 4 more days until after the 36 week mark, they will send me to Anchorage, which I would really like to avoid for a variety of reasons. However, I would much rather be spending my time moving the last pieces of my sewing room, including the actual sewing table & machine, continuing to organize things in the "new" sewing room, and maybe even actually sewing! But no. Instead, I am laying in bed, on the computer. Ugh, ugh, ugh. So annoying! I know the most important thing is to keep this baby boy safely cooking for another week or two, but I am seriously getting tired of laying/sitting around. Alternatively, when I feel like I need to rest other times, I cannot, because I am busy chasing around my 2 1/2 year old! Sheesh, I am just ready for this baby to come and my mom to get here, and the nursery to be ready, and the sewing room/area to be organized, and the extra furniture to be out of the hallway. Once these things are done, I might actually be able to relax! So for now, going to pop in Sopranos, Season 1, Disc 2. Just got two new Netflix today - disc 4 of Sopranos, Season 1, and a movie called A Good Year. Also, at least Grays & PP are on TV tonight, among other things (all being recorded, plus all of last night's shows & some from Tuesday - maybe I watch too much TV?!), so when I'm not busy with Keagan, I have plenty of electronic entertainment at least. On the learning to blog front - added a bookshelf to the blog last night, will try to maybe add some pictures and update my profile in the next couple of days. Maybe I should spend some time researching & beginning to write the term paper for my Juvenile Justice class?? Nah, Sopranos it is.

It's About Time!

Well, here goes nothing. Since I've had this blog for a while now, probably at least a year if not longer, I figure it is about time to get started and actually make my first post. Since there is only one person in the entire world at this point following - or who is aware of the fact that I even have a blog, for that matter - maybe she will be patient with me while I set this thing up & figure out how to use it so that it does not continue to languish, and so it is not totally lame!! So...here goes nothing. Aside from taking inspiration from a slew of blogs I've been visiting lately (once I figure out how, I will post links to my favorites of course), I am currently pregnant with baby #2, and on semi-bed rest. That means that I should have a little bit of time on my hands to get this puppy going. What is semi-bed rest you might be asking (or more likely are not, but I'm going to tell you anyway, because that's how I roll)? This means that I am not on strict orders to be in bed & never get up again, for any reason. I am, however, on orders to "titrate [my] activity level based on how [I'm] feeling, and rest accordingly." Basically, that means get up and do one or two things, then sit or lay back down, laying down for longer periods of time if I am having lots of contractions & feel like I need to rest more. Oh - that is the reason for the semi-bed rest. I've been having way too many Braxton-Hicks (not real) contractions, and a few that are likely real prelabor contractions, and it is not yet time for this baby boy to arrive! So anyway, it is really tough to not get up and do the things that need doing sometimes. It is especially annoying that many of the things that need doing are things I should not be doing - namely lifting & moving things around. This whole baby #2 thing, while not totally unexpected, has thrown a wrench into my quilting life. You see, my sewing room shares a kids' themed bathroom with my daughter's room and thus it makes the most sense that between the two available rooms, this should be the nursery. That means my sewing room has to move. It is moving to the opposite end of the hallway, into the guest room. All the nice furniture has been removed, but we left the bed in there so it can actually still work when guests come. But, it has been a very long and arduous process moving all of my crap - and there is a LOT of it - from my "old" sewing room into the "new" sewing room! It has all been made worse by my bed rest, and the fact that what little time I have that could be spent working on these things, I cannot now do them due to the whole semi-bed rest thing. It is a process, and there is progress being made, so I suppose I cannot complain too much. I am getting rather tired of the random, extra pieces of furniture in the hallway and living room, however, and would really just like to have the room emptied so my hubby can get the nursery painted, and the crib & other furniture in place so I can wash the bedding, and wash & put away baby's clothes. So, to end my first rambling post (of probably many), I am going to set out a goal: By the end of this coming weekend, I hope to have the room completely cleared out, and at least the first coat of paint done, if not both! Once that has been accomplished, it will be smooth sailing to finish the nursery set up, and then I can continue to work on the organization of my "new" sewing room. That too, is an ongoing process, but I have done well, I think, so far in beginning to get things organized enough that I will know where everything is & will be able to find what I need and pick up & work on a project right away once the sewing table & machine have been moved into the room. So blogger friends - okay, friend, let's be honest - wish me luck! Hopefully I can start figuring this blogging thing out (any pointers welcomed!), and get the two rooms organized so that I can relax a little and enjoy the last of my one on one time with my little girl before her baby brother arrives!